Lad Mills of Easton, Md. recently retired as Charity Boat Donation Director from his nearly 16 years of service to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md.
During his tenure, Mills traveled up and down the east coast, working with boat owners, yacht brokers, marinas, boatyards, and other donors and potential buyers, to support CBMM through boat donations and sales. Now leading the program is Todd Taylor, who joined CBMM in January 2015.
“Lad’s efforts and dedication helped build the largest and most reputable charity boat donation operation in the nation, and I’ve sincerely enjoyed my time working with him and learned a tremendous amount,” commented Taylor. “Although Lad will be focusing on his R&R with his family, we’ll continue to run CBMM’s Charity Boat Donation Program as one of the finest around.”
Mills started at CBMM in September 2001, working with CBMM’s John Ford to build its budding charity boat donation program and special events operations.
“We soon learned Lad was excellent at selling boats,” commented Ford at a recent reception honoring Mills. “It didn’t take long for the program to really take off.”
Shortly thereafter, Mills focused his work on the Charity Boat Donation Program, growing it from a few donations and sales a year, to hundreds of transactions and an annual Charity Boat Auction held each Labor Day weekend along CBMM’s waterfront.
“I sold my first boat for $50 to a young couple on their 35-foot sailboat who were sailing around the world,” recalls Mills. “Their dinghy was recently destroyed in a storm, and they didn’t have a lot of money. I got really excited about helping this young couple out, while helping a donor get rid of a boat, and handing over their check to the accounting office. It’s really a win-win-win situation, and has been a whole lot of fun.”
Mills says the most rewarding aspects of his career have been those win-win-win situations—as he describes them—and looks forward to seeing CBMM continue to grow, and increase its impact on to the communities served.
“It’s a phenomenal place,” said Mills. “My wife Tina and I visit a lot of maritime museums, and what CBMM is doing in the boatyard, collections, and programming is just off the charts.”
In his retirement, Mills is immediately working on getting his Lyman motorboat back on the Miles River, with trips already taken and future travel plans made for South Bristol, Maine.
“Because of Lad’s work, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised in support of our education, restoration, and exhibition programming,” commented CBMM President Kristen Greenaway. “CBMM would not be the world-class institution it is without the dedicated work of people like Lad, for which we are very grateful.”
CBMM’s Charity Boat Donation Program accepts and sells all manner of craft year-round, and offers long-standing boat sales and lease/charter operations, with 100% of the proceeds supporting the children and adults served by its education, curatorial, and boatbuilding programs. This year’s Charity Boat Auction is set for Saturday, September 2, with more about CBMM’s Charity Boat Donation Program at bit.ly/buyaboat.
Website: www.cbmm.org